Windows Messenger can be a tough one to get rid of. Best option is to uninstall it completely, since you don't need it unless someone uses MSN's instant messaging. You can uninstall it in the Add/Remove Programs applet found in the Control Panel.

There is a turn-off feature for messenger so that it won't auto start every time you reboot but I can't remember where it's at. You have to dig around in the messenger folders for it. If you use Outlook Express for your email, I think there may be a feature in there under properties or something that also allows you to disable it from auto starting.

I'm having a devil of a time on FORT lately because it takes an eternity for pages to load up. I'm on cable broadband, using wireless through a router sitting about 20 feet away. I'm in Firefox, but I don't remember what version.

It doesn't happen on every site, but it's not quite normal at other sites, either. It's like every 8th or 9th click takes a long time to load. On FORT it's like that 4 out of 5 clicks. I don't know why FORT it would be worse, but it is. I was using wireless internet in the public library today and it was just as slow.

I've got Norton anti-virus running, and it hasn't caught anything. I've run ad-aware and Spybot several times since this problem started and it catches the usual amount of stuff. It doesn't make anything run faster.

Oh, and another problem that started at the same time - it remembers odd things. Like if I start a thread here, and hit the preview, the post will be there in the preview but the editable text below will be an old post from a month ago! It's really strange. I posted an interview, got the text right by having to cut and paste a few times from my word processor, and when it posted it had changed the title of the thread entirely.

Any clues on how I can figure out what's going on? I swear there are gremlins in my laptop!

Edit: Well, crap. I just switched over to I.E. and it's working a lot faster. I love my Firefox.

For some reason, I can't access the internet from my laptop. The modem, wireless router, everything seems to be working fine and there's no problem getting online ffrom the other computer...obviously. What could be wrong?